


Steam

by The_Sad_Hatter



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers Family, Dark Humor, Domestic Avengers, Everyone is alive and living in the tower together, Fuck that purple grape guy, Golden Age of Avengers, Gore, I use nicknames and petnames, Multi, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Not Thor: Ragnarok (2017) Compliant, OC is undescribed and unamed, Slow Burn, Smut, So it IS reader insert, Thanos is not around, Violence, crack humor, enemies to idiots to lovers, no y/n
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-21 19:15:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30026577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Sad_Hatter/pseuds/The_Sad_Hatter
Summary: “So how’d you get the firepower? What’s your origin story?” Stark asked, peering at you curiously.“Uh, this is my origin story…” You winced, sighing when he motioned for you to elaborate, “I got these powers about three days ago.”It’s a tale as old as time, boy meets girl, boy tries to invade girls mind, girl sets boy on fire, boy turns into angry blue boy, they become sworn enemies.When you suddenly become imbued with a power you have no idea how to control, Nick Fury picks you up and dumps you on The Avengers doorstep, deciding that they are best people to turn you from a wacky novice into a force to be reckoned with.The power burning inside you has the potential to make you a hero, or destroy you completely, but your new fire based abilities are more than they appear, and in a stroke of spectacularly bad luck, The God of Mischief is the most qualified teacher to mentor you. With Loki guiding you, will you ever learn to control your power? Will you ever make it as an Avenger? Or will you crash and burn?Only one thing is absolutely certain, when fire and ice collide, things are bound to get… steamy!
Relationships: Loki/Original Character, Loki/Reader
Comments: 55
Kudos: 114





	1. Ice Breaker

It was every bit as imposing as you’d imagined it would be, not that you’d ever imagined seeing it under these circumstances.

“Are you coming?” Fury barked at you, breaking you out of your slack-jawed awe.

You snapped your mouth closed and tore your eyes away from the legendary tower, looking at the doors where Fury was impatiently waiting for you.

“Coming!” You squeaked, scurrying over to him, “It’s just when you said you were taking me somewhere where I could safely learn to control my powers, I was sort of picturing an underground bunker in the desert, not the freaking _Avengers Tower_!”

“I utilise the assets I have, why would I send you away when I have a team of perfectly capable super-powered individuals?” He asked wryly, leading you across the lobby and straight past the security teams who did nothing to stop you both as you made your way into an elevator.

“I’m just saying, a heads up would have been nice.” You muttered petulantly, crossing your arms over your chest and tucking your hands out of sight.

You felt him look at you and studiously refused to meet his eye, staring instead at the numbers above the door as you were carried all the way to the top of the Tower.

“Heads up, you’re meeting The Avengers.” He shot back.

You could say what you liked about the former director of Shield, he was true to his word, because the elevator doors wooshed open to reveal a waiting crowd of Avengers, all of them staring at the man next to you with varying levels of annoyance and/or distrust. You diligently pattered after Fury as he stepped forward to greet them, looking around the room reverently.

The first person you laid eyes on was Tony Stark, Iron Man; the billionaire who had kicked off the modern age of hero’s, and next to him, Captain America, the first of the first, the OG Superhero. Stood behind the Captain was Sam Wilson, the Falcon and a personal favourite of yours, side by side with Bucky Barnes, the former Winter Soldier and poster-child for taking back control of your own fate. Clint Barton aka Hawkeye and the deadliest marksman in the world stood to the side with the Black Widow, deadliest person in the world full stop. In the back of the room two other figures were hanging back, emitting two very different aura’s. Doctor Bruce Banner eyed Fury with trepadition, and well-placed mistrust.

It was the last person in the room that the majority of your attention was reserved for, the tall, imposing god who skulked in the shadows. Contempt and boredom radiated from him, and you couldn’t safely say it was directed purely at Fury. He was also the only one who spared you more than a cursory glance, and you slowed to a stop as you found yourself trapped in his curious gaze. You stared back, trying to reconcile the villain who once tried to subjugate the planet with the one you were locking eyes with. It had been months since he had joined the Avengers, but it never stopped being strange to see him standing with them whenever you watched footage of them taking on whatever bad guy of the week they were battling. However, he had been fully cleared of any wrongdoing in the battle of New York, apparently he had been mind-controlled. As to why he was helping the Avengers, nobody really knew. 

Someone cleared their throat loudly and you forced yourself to look away from the stupendously tall god, glancing around the room to see that you now had all eyes watching you expectantly. Apparently you’d zoned out for the introductions.

“’Sup?” You offered, waving in Tony Starks general direction.

“So you’re Fury’s fiery friend, what has that got to do with us?” Stark sighed.

“What, you think he bothered to explain his reasoning to me before dragging my ass up here?” You scoffed.

“She’s here because she has abilities, abilities that she is more likely to learn to handle among similarly gifted people.” Fury explained in a tone that brokered no argument.

Naturally, The Avengers argued.

“We don’t have anybody with fire abilities.” You heard Natasha Romanoff point out, just before you took the opportunity to zone out again.

You were absolutely certain that nobody cared very much what your opinion on the matter was, thankfully. You weren’t sure you _had_ an opinion on the matter. It wasn’t like you had a lot of experience with these kinds of issues, and as far as you were away there wasn’t some superhero academy that you could enrol yourself in. Besides, you were much more interested in re-instating your staring competition with the god of Mischief.

In the brief time you’d been distracted, he’d stepped away from the shadows and moved closer to you, staring at you with his arms crossed.

You resisted the urge to inhale deeply, who knew ex-murderous gods would smell so nice? You looked up, and then up again.

“How tall are you?” You asked incredulously.

His gaze flickered down at you impassively, while you stared back and tried to mentally calculate his height.

“I’m a Frost _Giant_.” He stated coldly.

“Oh in that case, you’re kinda short.” You scoffed.

You were flooded with immediate remorse but it was drowned out by amusement.

“I beg your pardon?” He demanded, uncrossing his arms and stepping into your personal space.

“Down boy.” Iron Man sniggered, stepping between you. “So how’d you get the firepower? What’s your origin story?” Stark asked, peering at you curiously.

“Uh, this _is_ my origin story…” You winced, sighing when he motioned for you to elaborate, “I got these powers about three days ago.”

“So you’re a baby.” He stated matter-of-factly.

“If I say yes does that mean I can just sit on the floor and cry until someone picks me up and holds me?” You asked, fully willing to give it a go.

It had been three days since your life had literally gone up in flames, three days of pinning your arms at your sides, afraid to close your eyes, afraid to let your guard down for even a split second, afraid to allow yourself to feel even an iota of emotion.

“So how _did_ it happen?” The Captain asked firmly, getting the conversation back on track before you could find out if anyone would volunteer a hug.

“I, well, I kind of…” You trailed off and looked at Fury for help, but he just stared back at you, the bastard.

All eyes were on you as they waited for you to explain, nobody offering any kind of help. You exhaled forcefully and slumped your shoulders, tucking your chin so you didn’t have to look at them anymore.

“I ate a bomb.” You whispered.

There was a very long beat of silence before it was broken by several voices all at once.

“I’m sorry, what?” Stark demanded.

“What did it taste like?” The archer wondered, looking at you almost giddily.

“She didn’t _eat_ a bomb.” Fury finally stepped in to clarify, “She absorbed the blast, after failing to defuse it.”

“Why was a civilian defusing a bomb in the first place?” Captain Rogers asked sharply, glancing at you in concern before turning back to Fury with a hard expression.

“I’m not a civilian, I’m actually an Agent.” You reasoned.

“She’s an Agent-In-Training.” Fury rebutted. “It was her first mission in the field.”

“Baby.” Stark reiterated, faking a cough and smirking at you when you scowled at him.

That was true, and you still didn’t think it was entirely your fault that the bomb had gone off. Yes you’d failed to diffuse it, but you were supposed to be watching the perimeter when you’d stumbled across the explosive device. It had less than thirty seconds on the clock, and you’d stupidly chosen to spend those seconds trying to stop it detonating instead of running away.

“And you put her on bomb duty? Were you trying to get her blown up?” The Black Widow demanded, and you almost laughed until you saw the serious expression on her face.

“There wasn’t supposed to be a bomb there, she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Fury shrugged, like it was inconsequential.

To him it probably was.

“She is still in the room, and I was exactly where you told me to be, when you told me to be there. If your intel was bad, that’s on you Mr Superspy.” You snapped.

“Oh I see it now!” Stark briskly announced, “You’re trying to pawn her off on us because she’s too sassy for you.”

“Precisely.” Fury admitted, surprisingly.

“In the words of shortstack over there,” You hissed, gesturing at Loki “I beg your pardon?”

“You don’t have the temperance to be an Agent.” Fury told you blankly, not bothering to soften the blow by at least telling you this in private instead of in front of the world greatest heroes.

“I’d take that as a compliment.” Stark assured you.

“You’re telling me I’m fired? Literally. Because I got blown up, through no fault of my own?” You huffed, clenching your firsts in an effort to keep your emotions from manifesting in a fiery inferno of rage.

“Because you choose to try and handle a bomb you had no training to handle, instead of pursuing the target.” Fury amended, unphased by your distress.

You bit back your retort because you knew it wouldn’t matter to him in the slightest. You couldn’t reason with him, couldn’t explain that you had made the choice not to pursue the target who’d planted the bomb, because you had to try and stop it exploding in a building filled with innocent people. Maybe Fury was right after all. Maybe you weren’t suited to being an Agent, because an Agent would have known that they couldn’t stop the bomb but they could stop the bomber. They would have let a hundred innocent people die and stopped the killer from killing a thousand more the next time. You weren’t an Agent because you’d chosen to die trying to save the hundred, and trusted in Fury and Hill to take down the Bomber.

Of course, that wasn’t what had happened, and in the end nobody had died.

“None of this explains how you ‘ate’ the bomb.” Clint Barton pointed out, and it was a good observation.

“That’s because we don’t have an explanation. She went through the standard medical tests in her training, and all her bloodwork and scans indicated she was fully human. She walked into that building as a human being, and walked back out after absorbing a bomb, as who the hell knows what.”

“So you’ve never done anything like this before?” Dr Banner asked you, speaking directly to you for the first time.

“Not even remotely. I mean my eyes water when I eat chilli.” You shrugged.

“Fascinating.” Banner muttered. “Inhuman?” He asked, turning to Stark.

“Unlikely, she would have probably noticed going through Terragenesis.” Stark responded. “Mutant?” He shot back.

“No, the mutant gene would have shown up in testing.” Dr Banner sighed, looking you over with a scientifically calculating eye. “Can you explain what happened in more detail?”

“Sure, bomb went boom, I went AHHHHHH, and then it was all bright and hot and then the boom went away.” You told them.

“So how do we know that it was you? What if something else contained the blast?” Someone asked, and you looked around before you finally realised it was Sam Wilson who had spoken.

“No, it was… it definitely me.” You sighed.

“How do you know?” Bucky Barnes interjected, backing up the Falcons line of questioning.

That was the million dollar question. How could you be sure that you had anything to do with the bomb, that you had been imbued with fire power?

“During the post-mission de-brief, there was an incident.” You alluded, side-eying Fury and taking a not-so-subtle step away from him.

“Please tell me you tried to set him on fire?” Barton asked giddily, looking between you and your former boss.

When Fury levelled you with a glare and you developed a sudden vested in the ceiling, the Archer sniggered joyfully. You chanced a look around the room and saw that Barton wasn’t the only one exhibiting mirth at the idea of Fury being set ablaze by your.. well, your _fury_.

“He was yelling at me!” You defended, taking yet another step back when his glare intensified.

“You’re lucky you had no aim and only managed to set fire to the table.” He snapped.

“I think you were the lucky one.” Stark sniggered at Fury.

“Do you want her or not?” Fury sighed.

“Do I get a say in this?” You objected.

“No.” Fury, Stark, Romanoff, and Loki said in unison.

“I can run some tests to figure out what happened to you, if it’s reversible.” Banner offered comfortingly. “With your permission of course.”

“I’m gonna go stand over there with him.” You huffed, making a beeline for the doctor and awkwardly hiding behind him.

“Yeah, we’ll take her, should be an interesting riddle to solve.” Stark shrugged.

Captain Rogers and his buddies glanced at you before appearing to have a silent conversation.

“She can stay here while Stark and Banner figure out what happened, and we can go from there.” The Captain finally decided.

“We’ll take good care of her.” Loki added with a charming smile.

His eyes said something completely different, and you had a sick feeling that you were going to be made to pay for your short jokes.

“Glad I meet your approval; I was worried I was going to _fall short_.” You sarked, immediately resisting the urge to punch yourself in the face.

“Approval has nothing to do with it. Of all The Avengers, who do you think will be responsible for testing your abilities? You would do well to remember that I am more than mischief and lies, I am the god of chaos and _fire_.” He warned you cockily, visibly delighting in the way your grin faltered.

You shot a pleading look around the room, but nobody was refuting Loki’s claim. In fact, they were nodding thoughtfully, or in Stark’s case; shrugging apologetically at you. You turned back to Loki, ignoring the deep sense of foreboding in your stomach.

“Well Fe-Fi-Fo- _Fuck_.”


	2. Cold as Ice

The last time you’d been alone had been pre-bomb, and you’d forgotten just how loud and annoying that voice in your head could be. As soon as Fury had left, The Avengers had converged into chattering groups, discussing you, Fury, Fury’s intentions, your abilities etc… You’d been left standing in the centre of the room and scratching your head until The Black Widow had beckoned you away, leading you to an empty bedroom that had been designated as yours.

Which left you standing in the centre of this room, scratching your head. It was a nice room, muted colours, somewhere between clinical and cosy. Everything in it had that distinct soft feel of expensiveness, and you couldn’t help but wonder how flammable it all was. You had no idea how these power things worked, or how to control them. What if you set the pillowcases on fire?

_What if you burn down the Avengers Tower?_

“Not helpful!” You hissed at your internal monologue, perching timidly on the edge of the bed.

_What if you burn down The Avengers?_

You threw your head back on groaned, you didn’t want to be alone with your thoughts right now, not until you had some kind of information that could soothe them. A safety net for paranoid intrusive thoughts.

_What temperature would you have to burn an Iron Man suit at to melt it?_

_How long would it take a god to heal from third-degree burns?_

_Can the Hulk even catch fire?_

A brisk knock echoed through the room, interrupting the troublesome line of thinking you’d fallen down.

“Oh thank god!” You muttered, racing to the door and throwing it open.

Loki stared icily at you and you sighed.

“Not the god I wanna thank.” You harrumphed, glaring mockingly back at him.

“Follow me.” He dictated, spinning on his heel and stalking away.

“What’s up, you need me to get something from the top shelf for you?” You jabbed, falling into step beside him.

“Do you ever stop talking?” He demanded exasperatedly.

You’d said one sentence and he was already fed up, it was almost a record for you. The smart thing to do would be quiet before you pushed him any further.

“Nope, so I have a question… You’re a frost giant, _and_ you’re the god of fire?” You prodded, curious about the juxtaposition.

He didn’t answer you, but you could pretty much hear him rolling his eyes, even without looking at him.

“Fire and Ice, that’s an interesting mix. How’s your singing?”

“What?” He asked, befuddled into breaking his silence.

“You know, ‘cause you could make a Song of Fire and Ice.”

“I made an error when I asked if you ever stopped talking, what I meant to say was ‘stop talking, immediately’.” He warned.

“Or what, you’ll jump up and bite my ankles?” You challenged.

He strode ahead of you and spun around so he was blocking your path up the hall. You faltered to an immediate halt, swallowing thickly. There was something deeply… _unnerving_ about the threatening stance he had taken and the unconcealed rage in his eyes.

“Have care how you address me, mortal. I am a the god of many dark things, I know of ways to destroy you that would make you weep with fear from the mere imagining of them.” He hissed, the promise of pain laced _very_ clearly in his tone.

You blinked owlishly at him, processing his words and trying to quell the nervous fluttering in your stomach.

“Alright, alright, I’m sorry.” You offered placatingly, “There’s no need to get short with me.” As soon as the words left your mouth you threw yourself backwards, holding your hands in front of yourself defensively.

You nervously awaited the inevitable removal of your internal organs, narrowing your eyes in suspicion when he smiled charmingly at you instead. It was the most unsettling thing he could have done, gone was the bitchy god of temperatures, and in his place was… well, you were starkly reminded that he was in fact a Prince.

“Don’t look so scared, I wouldn’t really murder you in the hallway.” He chuckled.

The hair on the back of your neck stood on end, and you took another tentative step backwards.

“I don’t know what’s happening, but I don’t like it!” You admitted.

He stepped aside and waved you forward with a small bow that should have looked either ridiculous or mocking, but he made it elegant.

“I believe Stark and Banner are waiting for you.” He coaxed when you didn’t move.

You cautiously crept forward, not taking your eyes off of him for a second, not even to blink. All he did was fall into step beside you, spine-chillingly friendly smile still on his lips. He kept it up all the way to what you assumed was the lab, opening the door for you like some kind of gentleman. You hated it.

“There’s the baby!” Stark crowed as soon as you walked into what you’d correctly assumed was a lab.

“There’s the genius I’m not going to sass cause he’s putting a roof over my head.” You greeted, waving.

“Finally, somebody who appreciates my generosity.”

“We all appreciate you Tony.” Dr Banner sighed as he emerged from the depths of the futuristic lab.

“Anyway,” Stark said, beckoning you toward him, “We need a starting point to study from, and we haven’t seen your abilities.”

“Oh, ok. Well Fury probably has the footage?”

“It would be infinitely more helpful if we could see it in person, that way we could get more substantial data.” Dr Banner explained, walking towards a large glass chamber. “This is a testing chamber that we usually use for technology, but it’s fire-proof and sealed. There are sensors inside that can measure the temperature, and your vitals.”

“Oh, you want me to get in the box and, uh, burn? You want to test my powers?” You clarified.

“Yes and no, we’re going to monitor you and study the resulting data, but Loki is the one who’ll be testing you.” Stark informed you.

You whipped your head around to stare at Loki, that creepy smile finally making sense.

“Oh no.” You whimpered.

“Oh yes.” He practically purred back, his smile dropping to a devilish smirk.

You turned back to the scientists, pleading with your eyes, but they purposefully ignored you. 

“Guys. _Guys!_ You can’t be serious. Please tell me you aren’t serious.” You begged.

“Get in the box, Sparky.” Stark cajoled, barely keeping a smile off his face at your distress.

You shot one last pathetic glance at Dr Banner, but to no avail.

“This is not going to end well.” You whimpered, dejectedly traipsing into the glass cell, shooting a mournful look back over your shoulders as the doors closed.

Loki stepped forward, passing a now full on sniggering Tony, and Bruce who was diligently studying a monitor.

“I believe you’re right. This has very little chance of ending well, for you.” Loki told you smugly, satisfaction practically pouring out of him.

“What are you going to do to me?” You asked in trepidation.

“We’re just getting a baseline reading, hang tight.” Bruce called out.

You ignored him, unable to break your gaze away from Loki.

“Fear not, this should only hurt a _little_ , for a _short_ amount of time. A _small_ price to pay for answers, wouldn’t you agree?” He sarked.

“Loki stop teasing her, we aren’t hurting her.” Tony sighed, giving you a reassuring smile.

“Perhaps _you_ aren’t.” Loki answered back.

“Ok, whenever you’re ready.” Bruce called out, and the three of them watched you expectantly.

“Right. Sure. Ok.” You spluttered, holding your hands out and watching them with the same expectant look as the others.

Oh so surprisingly, nothing happened. You flexed your fingers a little, trying to coax some kind of reaction, to no avail.

“You have no idea how to turn it on, do you?” Tony sniggered.

“Nope, not a clue!” You sighed.

“How did you do it with Fury?” He asked.

“I… don’t know. It just happened. Literal spontaneous combustion. One second he was yelling at me and the next there were flames shooting out of my hands. Honestly, I was more surprised than he was.”

“Maybe it’s an emotional response, like it is for most of us with abilities.” Bruce suggested.

“Emotions?” You repeated, scrunching your nose up, “I don’t know her.”

Tony rolled his eyes good naturedly at you.

“Maybe we can get Wanda to help here. She can induce a memory with a strong emotional response, and if it works we can try out different emotions to see what one’s result in the strongest and weakest flare ups of power.” Bruce suggested, talking aloud more to himself than any of you.

“Uh, no. I don’t want anybody digging around in my head thanks, also can I come out of the aquarium now?”

It was Loki who stepped forward to open the doors.

“I don’t think it was rage that brought your powers forth.” He mused as the doors whooshed open. “I know a liar when I see one, and all your attitude and anger rings false. You’re hiding behind it to cover how scared you are, you are ruled by your _fear_.” He drawled, blocking the doorway and backing you back into the tank.

Your heart sped up at his disturbingly accurate accusation.

“You know nothing Jon Snow.” You scoffed, proving his point, not that he could prove it.

“I do like your suggestion though, Bruce.” He said, switching from darkly vindictive to sinfully saccharine with one small smirk, “Shall we see what your fear conjures?”

You didn’t have time to object because he raised his hand and cupped your face none to gently, and you had one brief second of awareness to lament not having prior knowledge that Wanda Maximoff wasn’t the only Avenger with the ability to mess with minds, and then everything disappeared.

_29…_

_28…_

_27…_

_“Fury can you read me? There’s a bomb down here, it’s going to detonate in about 25 seconds!” You choked out, watching as the heels of the agent you’d seen sneaking into the basement of the mall disappeared around the corner._

_“Get out of there, now!” Fury barked back at you through the comms._

_You desperately tried to draw in a breath, finding no spare oxygen in the dank room. You could make it, if you ran like hell, the bomber was making a run for it so there was a path out of this, you could pursue him, cut him off, steal his escape plan for yourself and put a couple of bullets in him for good measure._

_But above your head there were hundreds of people who were unaware that the building was about to explode beneath their feet. That was hundreds of mothers and fathers trying to keep their children amused and safe in a crowd, hundreds of children giddily eyeing up toys and games with hope of taking one home if they behaved, hundreds of teenagers sipping soda and gossiping about the hell that was high school, hundreds of grandparents trying to figure out which expensive gadget would make the best gift for their grandchildren, hundreds of underpaid and exhausted workers with smiles plastered on their face who were trying to get through the day. So many lives being lived above you, all about to cut short in a horrific and catastrophic way._

_How could you run?_

_22…_

_21…_

_20…_

_“Target is heading east, he’s planning on making out out of here alive, stop him. I can’t pursue, I’m busy.” You said into your comm unit before ripping it out, decision made._

_You knelt by the bomb, the eerie glow from the digital ticking numbers lighting your face as you leaned in to study it. You tried to steady your shaking hands as you prised the bomb open, heart sinking when you saw the mess of wires inside. You didn’t know how to do this, you didn’t know which of the many wires would nullify the threat._

_13…_

_12…_

_11…_

_“I can’t stop it.” You realised._

_There was no time for an evacuation, there was no time to even warn anyone. Desperation clawed at your insides, jacking up your heartbeat, and you stared in shock at the bomb as useless adrenaline flooded your system. Everyone was going to die, and you couldn’t do a damn thing about it._

_Not a damn thing._

_All you could hope for was that Fury and Hill had gotten at least some civilians clear of the mall, and that they would apprehend the bomber._

_5…_

_4…_

_3…_

_As the final seconds ticked away, you sent out a silent plea for forgiveness from all the people you were about to let down._

_And then it was at 0, and you didn’t hear anything, didn’t feel anything, you just saw a blinding flash that knocked you on your ass. That should have been the end, it should have killed you instantly, but then why were you burning?_

_Was this hell?_

You blinked as the memory faded away and you were brought back to the present, back to the lab, back to Loki. The memory faded, but the heat did not, and too late you realised why.

Flames erupted from your fingertips, creating a raging inferno inside the tank, the force of which sent you careening backwards. There was a sickening crack as you collided with the glass walls, before slithering pathetically to the floor. The silver lining of your crash into the glass was that it knocked the fire out of you, and the flames died down, flickering out of existence.

Only then did you see the consequences of your actions, and they were… _perplexing._

“Why are you blue?” You winced, a thumping inside your skull timing itself perfectly to your words.

Loki looked up at you with blood red eyes and you gasped.

“What did you do?” He snarled.

“I…” You placed your palm on the glass to steady yourself and tried to stand up, nearly faceplanting the floor as a wave of dizziness overtook you.

You screwed your eyes closed and focused on trying to stay upright, but they flew open again when you were shoved forcefully back into the glass wall.

“What did you do?” Loki repeated, his eyes fading back to their natural colour and the blue vanishing slowly from his skin.

“Loki, put her down!” Someone yelled, but you couldn’t place the voice, and you couldn’t bring yourself to look away from Loki.

It was after all, a good question. What had you done?

“I don’t know. I don’t know and it’s hardly my fault! You attacked my brain, what did you expect?” You yelled, wincing in agony.

You could feel something dripping down your neck, and you highly doubted it was sweat. Loki abruptly let you go, and you leant back into the glass as he almost bodily threw himself across the tank.

“It was an accident.” Someone placated, defending you.

You glanced to the side and saw Dar Banner standing in the open doorway of the cell, behind a fully suited and booted Iron Man.

“You would defend her? After she deceived us?” Loki spat, glaring hatefully at you.

“What are you talking about?” Iron Man asked briskly, slightly lowering the whirring repulsor he had aimed at the extremely cranky god.

Loki rounded on you once again, and now you could see it, now it made sense, why he was the god of fire. He was burning with rage, and your heart hammered loudly at the sight. But you still didn’t know what you’d done.

“No mere fire could burn away my other form like that. I felt it as the flames raged around me, I felt her power. Her fire, her power, it’s magic. She has magic.”

“I do?” You whispered.

And then the floor rushed towards you, and the last thing you saw was someone rush to catch you as the world went completely black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when I used to meme the end of my chapters? 
> 
> Loki: I know so many ways to kill you, and I’ll do it. 
> 
> Reader: Hmm, murder me daddy. 
> 
> Loki: Beg your pardon?! 
> 
> Reader: Uh, I said you’re short?
> 
> On a serious note, I want to thank you all for the lovely comments on the last chapter. They really meant so much to me, I feel like I'm at a breaking point so far as writing is going and the support and love you gave me was invaluable. Thank you!

**Author's Note:**

> I have been trying to get back into writing for so long, and this is my last attempt. If this doesn’t work then I am out of ideas. 
> 
> I know this is a boring start but I have been re-working and rewriting it for days and I can’t improve it. If you enjoyed any part of this, please do tell me! If you didn’t, then tell me that as well. Just give me any feedback at all, I’d appreciate it so so so so so much. 
> 
> For those of you unaware (especially on AO3), I haven’t been writing for a while because my estranged mother passed away and it brought up issues that needed to be dealt with, but all that is over with now. Thank you to everyone who sent supportive messages and was patient with me ❤


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